Keep about 56% of fully diluted equity — your team's combined share counting all shares, options and converts as if issued — after seed. Plan to hold about 36% after Series A.
Those figures are team totals, not per-founder targets. A two-person team splits the remainder before staff and investors take their cuts. Use them to set your walk-away line before priced talks begin.
Table of Contents
- Combined or per founder?
- Why does Series A take so much?
- Does industry change the target?
- How to split and protect the share?
Combined or per founder?
Think in team totals first. If the team holds 56% after seed, two equal founders hold about 28% each. Three equal founders hold under 19% each.
According to Carta, the median team kept about 56% after seed and about 36% after Series A in Carta's founder ownership data. That is a fall of about 20 points in one priced round, which is a sale of preferred shares at a set valuation. Divide your own cap table the same way before you negotiate.
Why does Series A take so much?
Series A investors often buy 10%-30% of the company. According to Carta, median dilution was 18.7% in its Q2 2026 benchmark, or about one-fifth per round, detailed in Carta's Series A benchmark. Dilution means your percentage falls when new shares are issued.
Carta puts the Q2 2026 median round at $76.3M post-money on $14.7M raised. Post-money means company value after the new cash lands. A pool top-up before close also dilutes founders pre-money, which means before that cash is counted.
Does industry change the target?
Yes. According to Carta, digital-industry founders kept a median 37.5% at Series A, while physical-industry founders kept 30.5%, shown in Carta's sector breakdown. The gap reflects higher capital needs outside software.
Hardware and other physical builds often raise more before product-market fit. If you are building in a physical industry, keep more before seed ends. Raise only what extends runway to clear technical milestones. Save room so Series A does not push you below 30%.
How to split and protect the share?
According to Carta, 45.9% of two-founder teams split equally in 2024, up from 31.5% in 2015. Equal splits cut early conflict over keep-versus-share choices. Solo founders were about 36% of incorporations in 2025, up from 31% in 2024, but Carta notes they win priced rounds less often.
According to Carta, the median employee pool reaches 16.8% by Series C and passes median founder ownership at 16.1%, explained in Carta's priced-round guide. The pool is shares reserved for hires. Budget it before Series A because pre-money top-ups come from founders. Set the pool to actual hiring needs before you agree the term sheet.
- Model seed and Series A on fully diluted math before you sign.
- Size the option pool to the next 12-18 months of hires only.
- Assign vesting with a one-year cliff to protect the team split.